Live from Metropolis...

Once you saw it on the schedule, you circled it; to miss this one would be sinful. Set to screen in the middle of the week, only the real cinephiles remained. Reserved tickets: all spoken for. The line out front literally began hours before showtime. When you finally entered the screening auditorium at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz in downtown Austin, the stage was already set. As a part of SXSW, the Golden Hornet Project was about to present a screening of Fritz Lang’s ever-influential sci-fi epic, Metropolis, accompanied by an original live score. Don’t mistake this with an organ or piano shoved in the corner of the theater. This was a full-on performance featuring a drum set, electric bass and guitar, a cello, a violin, a keyboard, and a xylophone.


The goal of the Golden Hornet Project that day was to utilize the instruments, technologies, and opportunities we have available to us today to complement Metropolis in the same spirit that an organ or even full orchestra would have done in the 1920’s. As the workers trudge to their jobs underneath the city, low drums and electric bass sounds emphasize their steps, thumping, representing the daily toll and grind of work. Triumphant yet foreboding distorted guitar licks meet the unveiling of the Machine Man. The chase scenes are accompanied by the more traditional rapid violin and sympathetic piano.

I’d never seen Metropolis before that screening, but I could still appreciate what a difference a fresh, modern, original score could make. Not to say that a score like this should replace any older accompaniment, it’s just something different. I’ve attended a screening of Battleship Potemkin featuring a live orchestral performance at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. It featured a much more traditional, something you’d expect to hear while watching a later silent film. I think a lot of these types of live performances tend to stick as closely as possible to the original score, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. The two are simply different takes on things.

Prior to the performance, an interviewer asked one of the leaders of the project why they chose to score Metropolis, to which he simply answered, “Have you seen the film?” It’s evident that everyone involved has a passion and love for the film, which is why they put such effort into writing a completely original feature film score. This wasn’t haphazardly put together. The score flows yet manages to incorporate styles that span generations of music, from classical to modern rock. Portions of the performance that left room for more improvisation, but overall it calculated each complex motifs and character theme. Most importantly, it all fit the film.

Sitting through the experience, I kept hoping and praying that the audio of this orchestra was being recorded, or that they’d already laid down these tracks in a studio somewhere. However, as old as the film is, Metropolis is not public domain material. Had it been, I could envision Archive.org files featuring alternate scores such as this one, ready for everyone to consume. Such radically different approaches to the film’s score serve as a catalyst for new thoughts and experiences, and I only wish more people could have witnessed what I did.

Now, could some argue that this project goes against the spirit of the film as a piece of art? After all, it was released with a specific score, wasn’t it? How would you feel if you went to see Requiem For a Dream and you were met not by Clint Mansell’s immortal score, but rather by the sound of a little tinkling piano? Most would be livid! This film should only be heard with those Kronos Quartet strings, darn it! Aronofsky wanted that score, so shouldn’t we respect that?

Is it silly to argue the same for Metropolis?

I guess that depends on your views. Some hold the belief that a performance of Shakespeare requires tights and swords, while others laugh off the notion as archaic. There are some who find no merit in one artist altering another artist’s work, while others believe that that’s what most art really is anyway.

Now, admittedly, I’m doing a poor job of arguing both sides because, as you can tell from my gushing, the experience that both Fritz Lang and the Golden Hornet Project provided that afternoon floored me. Because of the age, significance, influence, and presence of Metropolis, it’s almost as if the film now belongs to all of us. It’s ours. I feel that we can do with it whatever we please. But naturally stemming from our love for the film, we should do it all with care. If it’s all done in the right spirit, we can create unbelievable experiences like that one at SXSW.